Partition an SD-Card in Windows?

[Jon_J]

I've searched hi and low on google and other forums for an answer to this:
How do I partition an SD-Card in Windows?
I know at the Zaurus and linux communities, that linux is capable of this, but nothing mentioned for Windows. I have Win XP, so there isn't any DOS. I do have the command prompt, but I can't use fdisk in this version, the command isn't available.
I want to get a 4GB SD-Card and make two (2GB) partitions on it. I want to do this in windows so my Palm Zire 72 can access it.

I know on my Zaurus, I can partition it with FAT and ext2 partitions. (Zaurus is linux).
Or on a different approach, I would like to make 4 partitions of 1GB each, (3 FAT) and (1 ext2)

Has anybody had any luck in doing this?
Thank you,
Jon

[Josser]

Palm's NVFS does not support partitions.

( 8(|)

[holvoetn]

Originally posted by Josser
Palm's NVFS does not support partitions.

( 8(|)

The question was about SD card, not main memory
So this comes down to VFS ...

And even if PalmOs could do it, Windows can not either for an SD card.

[raspabalsa]

As far as I know, Windows does not allow you to create multiple partitions on a removable device. I believe there can only be one partition (the primary) on removable devices.

On XP you have two choices to manage your drives: the management console and the command "diskpart". This last one can be used from the command prompt.
However, the management console has a useful GUI, and that makes it much easier to use. You can launch the console by tipying "compmgmt.msc" in the run prompt.

[Jon_J]

I've tried the management console, "partition" is grayed out in properties for an SD card.
I just dropped to a command line and this is what I get if I type the "help" switch with diskpart:
----------------------------------------------------
I:\>diskpart /?

Microsoft DiskPart version 5.1.3565

Copyright (C) 1999-2003 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: HOME-P4

Microsoft DiskPart syntax:
diskpart [/s <script>] [/?]

/s <script> - Use a DiskPart script.
/? - Show this help screen.
----------------------------------------------------
I wonder where I can find this script?
Back to google...
Thank you,
Jon

[holvoetn]

Strange ...

I just plugged an SD card and an external HDD in my laptop to check on this.

Both show up as external storage devices.

Using Control Panel - Administrative Tools - Disk Management I can see both disks but for the HDD I do get the option to change the partitions while for the SD card it is grayed out.

But looking into the details it says the SD card is Removable Storage while the HDD is catalogued as Local Disk ...

[Jon_J]

I'll try this later, this page shows you how to partition an SD-Card in a Zaurus.
I'll need to get some packages for my Zaurus.
Here is the page that describes partitioning an SD-Card or CF-Card:
http://www.oesf.org/index.php?title=...a_CF_/_SD_card

Jon

[raspabalsa]

Jon_J, the partition option in the console is grayed because that option is not available for removable drives.
I can't help you with diskpart, as I said above I use the console. I mentioned it because I felt from your original post that you like to work with the command prompt. Check XP's help, it details all available options with diskpart.

H, windows treats any hard disk directly connected to the PC as a local disk regardless of the connection used. Well, at least this is true for IDE, S-ATA, USB and parallel connections. I don't know about firewire.

I think the "removable" attribute is set by the controller in the card reader, cd rom drive, tape, or whatever, but I'm not sure about this.

[Guest]

Originally posted by holvoetn
The question was about SD card, not main memory
So this comes down to VFS ...

And even if PalmOs could do it, Windows can not either for an SD card.

I think Josser was referring to VFS (Virtual File System, the expansion card memory manager Palm introduced in OS 4.0). I have no firsthand knowledge, but I agree that even if an SD card were partitioned successfully, the Palm would probably see at most one of the partitions.

I'm not sure if NVFS is also a type of VFS in addition to referring to non-volatile memory, or if he misspoke amid the frequent discussions of Non-VolatileFS on this board.

[Josser]

I had read somewhere a long while ago that a handheld would have, depending on hardware, VFS or NVFS but not both. (i.e. only one file system, because two competing file systems tended to crash alot with apps in 'card' and data in 'RAM' so they added VFS to NVFS.)

Sorry if I mis-spoke.

( 8(|)